


Fins and Fish Hooks

by octoaliencowboy



Category: DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Lian is only mentioned so far but she will appear, M/M, Not Beta Read, if i ever write more of this that is, not really sure where im going with this just fyi but i wanted to post it, yes another one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2019-12-18 10:51:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18248357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octoaliencowboy/pseuds/octoaliencowboy
Summary: Roy is a fisherman living with his daughter in a tiny seaside town. Dick is a merman, a species of sea creatures so elusive no one can agree on whether or not they exist. They meet, and fall in love, obviously. But there's a storm on the horizon-- what trouble is coming their way?





	1. Chapter 1

Early morning on the water was always calm and quiet. The mist still clung in parts to the gently rippling water, not yet chased away by the barely risen sun. A chill hung in the air, left over from the night before. Roy’s net barely made waves in the water his little boat sailed on, pulling up piles of fish to sell and eat.

 

It was peaceful, as it was every morning. It was routine.

 

A scream ripped through the air. Roy nearly jumped out of his skin, heart pounding at the sudden blood curdling sound. It was coming from around the corner-- the source of it was obscured by tall rocks. The screaming continued as Roy urged his boat onward. It sounded like a man. A man afraid.

 

As he rounded the corner he spotted another, larger fishing boat than his. Upon it were three men, but none of them were the one screaming. The boat was rocking slightly. They seemed to be trying to wrestle something, or someone, out of Roy’s line of sight, into submission. The men’s excited shouts could barely be heard over the terrified screams.

 

Roy knew these men. He avoided them when he could. He didn’t trust them. He now knew he was right not to.  

 

“Hey!” Roy yelled as he pulled his boat up close to theirs, getting their attention. “Who the fuck are you _torturing_ up there!”

 

“Harper!” Laughed one of the men, unphased by his clear anger. “This is the catch of a _lifetime_! If you come on over here and give us a hand we’ll share the bounty with you!”

 

Roy couldn’t not. He brought his fishing boat as close to theirs as possible and threw down the anchor to keep it in place. He jumped from his ship onto theirs, pulling himself up onto the deck. What he saw there nearly made him tip back into the water from shock.

 

It was— it wasn’t a man, not entirely. Attached to his bare torso was, instead of a pair of legs, undeniably a tail. A long, scaled tail that was reminiscent of both a fish and a mythical sea serpent. The scales shifted down the tail from brighter blue to much darker in a pattern that seemed like a larger version of the pattern the scales themselves made. The fins looked sharp. The not-man also had pointed ears and— from the glimpse Roy caught of his mouth pulled wide open from his screams— very sharp, pointy teeth.

 

The merman— it was a merman, oh my god an actual real life merman, Roy didn’t think they really even existed, no matter how much Lian insisted she’d seen one (oh my god maybe she really had seen one oh my god she said it’s tail was blue and had black hair oh my god what if this is the merman she claimed to have seen) — was trapped, tangled up in a sturdy looking fishing net. He thrashed madly on the wooden deck, getting himself tangled more and more the more he struggled, but it looked like fear had taken over.

 

Through the holes in the net Roy and the merman made eye contact, brief as it was, the second their gazes locked left Roy feeling shaken, broken out of his frozen trance. As inhuman as most of the merman was, his eyes seemed so painfully human, and so full of terror that it made the anger Roy’d felt earlier ignite again with a vengeance.

 

“Oh my god, what the fuck is wrong with you! Stop!” Roy yelled at the men still trying to force the merman to still. “Stop!”

 

He grabbed the shoulders of the nearest man and shoved him up away from the thrashing merman.

 

“Hey, if you’re not gonna help then mind your own business, Harper!” The man shoved back, and another stood up to back up his buddy. Roy had already seen enough. He threw a punch at the man’s jaw, knocking him to the ground out cold in one blow. The second man roared, charging at him, and quick as a flash Roy pulled out the knife he kept hidden in his boot. He held it out between him and the man, a warning, and the man paused. The third man had stilled, watching the exchange nervously, already backing away from the merman. The merman, too, had seemed to stop thrashing, finally, watching them all with wide eyes. The merman’s chest heaved still from panic.

 

The second man looked between Roy and the knife in his hand. “Really, Harper?” He said. “You wanna save that creature— that _thing_ so badly you’d kill your fellow man to do it?”

 

Roy glared. “Yeah, I would. And I will if you don’t get out of my way.”

 

The man evaluated this carefully, before ultimately deciding this wasn’t worth his life. He backed off, retreating to the other side of the boat, and the third man followed. Roy let himself turn his back to them to crouch next to the merman, eyes scanning quickly trying to figure out how best to free him.

 

He couldn’t just toss him back into the water like this. He wouldn’t be able to swim away, trapped as he was. But Roy also loathed to keep him in the presence of these men who’d tried to hurt him.

 

Roy nearly kicked himself when he noticed why the merman still seemed to be so terrified, trying to inch away from him. His eyes were locked on the knife in Roy’s hand, and Roy cursed as he put it away quickly.

 

“I’m not gonna hurt you, I promise.” He said, unsure of how much the merman would even understand. “I swear I’ll get you out. I just need to get you off this ship first.”

 

Roy wedged his arms underneath the merman and lifted him up into the air. Roy grunted from strain as he did— damn, this guy was _heavy_. Probably the tail. He was extra glad suddenly that his years handling ships had given him this upper body strength that he so desperately needed right now. He shuffled to the edge of the boat and all but threw the merman the short distance onto the deck of his own boat. The merman shrieked as he for a split second flew through the air before landing on the deck with a heavy, painful sounding thud. Roy winced.

 

He jumped after the merman, pulled up the anchor quickly and sailed away from the other men’s boat. As soon as he felt like they were at a safe distance he turned his attention back to the merman.

 

Panic washed over him when he saw the merman throw his head back and to the sides, wheezing heavily. Did he fuck up? Was the merman spending too long out of the water? Could he not breathe? That was when Roy saw it— the rope of the net had somehow managed to wrap its way around the merman’s neck. He leapt into action, pulling out his knife again, slicing carefully at the ropes, trying not to cut the merman’s skin as he did.

 

Roy’s stomach lurched funnily when he spotted that the merman had gills on the sides of his neck. They fluttered as they were freed from the ropes, but the merman didn’t seem to be struggling to breathe anymore.

 

He continued to cut away the net, freeing more and more of the merman as he did so. All the while the merman seemed to relax a fraction more each time the ropes loosened a bit more. After a few long and tense silent minutes, the net had been cut up enough for the merman to shove it the rest of the way off of him, finally free.

 

Roy sat back on his heels as the merman sat up, rubbing at where the rough ropes had left red lines on his skin. Now that the merman was no longer hidden beneath the net, Roy had more of a chance to properly examine him.

 

He was… really handsome. Like, _really_ handsome. Like, head turning, double take, breath caught in your throat kind of handsome. From the delicate curl of his hair, to the glint in his wide eyes that reminded Roy of the very depths of the ocean he sailed on, to the elegant slope of muscles beneath warmly golden skin, every feature of this sea creature screamed astonishing beauty.

 

He also wore some pieces of jewelry— strands of pearls that were draped around his neck, more that fell around and off his shoulders, down his front and around his waist, as well as matching pearl earrings that dangled, swinging and glinting in the rising sunlight.

 

The merman was looking at him, with a slack expression of bewilderment and wonder. Then, a small, slow smile stretched its way across his features. He looked up at Roy through thick, dark lashes.

 

“You saved my life…” the words came from the merman almost like a purr, voice curiously accented and hoarse.

 

Roy blushed, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Well I mean, of course. Anyone would have done the same.”

 

The merman shook his head. “Not anyone.” He said. “You. Your daughter said you were a good man, Roy Harper. I should have believed her.”

 

Roy blinked. “So Lian really wasn’t making up stories about talking to a merman. You were never there when she dragged me down to the shore to meet you, I thought her imagination had just been running wild.”

 

“That was intentional, sorry.” The merman smiled sheepishly. “We’re taught to be wary of fishermen. I’m sure you know why.”

 

“Yeah…” Roy shifted on the deck so he was sitting cross legged in front of the merman. “So, you know my name, what’s yours?”

 

“Dick.” Said the merman. “I’m called Dick.” He looked up at the sky then, at the sun that was starting to climb higher into the sky. “I should return home soon. My father will start to worry.”

 

Roy blinked again, determined not to think about the feeling of disappointment settling in his gut.

 

“Here,” said Dick the merman suddenly, shrugging out of his strands of pearls. He pressed the tangle of jewelry into Roy’s hands. “A thank you gift. Do with them what you like, keep them, sell them, does not matter.”

 

Roy spluttered even as he felt the smooth pearls between his fingers. “I can’t take these…”

 

Dick smiled, in a way that Roy thought that internally the merman might be laughing at him.

 

“You’re not taking them, I’m giving them to you. Now, would you be so kind as to help me out of this boat?” He held his arms out, in a way that reminded him of Lian when she was younger and demanding to be picked up. He put the pearls in his pocket and stood.

 

Roy reached down and grabbed Dick by the waist, hoisting him up and tossing the merman over his shoulder. Dick laughed delightedly as he did, wiggling his tail in a way that probably ought to have unnerved Roy at least a little, but it didn’t. He grabbed onto the tail to hold him still. The scales were smooth under his hands, and when Dick yelped Roy wondered if grabbing a merman’s tail like this was in any way like grabbing a humans ass.

 

He didn’t have the chance to wonder for very long, though, because only seconds later he was setting Dick back down again on the edge of the boat.

 

“See you later, alligator.” Dick waved before tipping backwards, slipping gracefully into the water. He rolled once, splashing water up at Roy, and then, with a final glint of the sunlight on his indigo scales, he was gone.

 

Roy stood on his boat for a second, watching the water where Dick had disappeared, suddenly unsure whether or not any of that had just happened. Then he reached down into his pocket again, pulling out the strings of pearls Dick had given him. They had a light blue tint to them. Between the pearls and the shreds of net still scattered around the deck of his boat, there was no more doubt he’d just dreamed the whole encounter. But he wasn’t any less baffled.  


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some time passes, and Roy and Dick meet the for the second time. Roy learns something both interesting and terrifying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for all the puns

To say Roy was disappointed when he did not see Dick again for several weeks, and neither did Lian, would be an understatement.

 

He kicked himself every time he caught himself feeling hurt by the merman’s absence, because it wasn’t like Dick had explicitly promised they would see each other again, and Dick definitely didn’t owe him any of his time. But even so, the few minutes they spent together were enough for Dick to be properly embedded in the forefront of his mind, and now Roy found he couldn’t stop thinking about him. 

 

The pearls Dick had given him lived in his pocket, now. Roy often took them out in his moments alone to look at them, roll the smooth pearls between his fingertips. Wondered where in the vast sea Dick was and what he was doing. 

 

Lian was also upset her shoreline friend was no longer around to play with, and honestly, that stung more than the fact that Dick was avoiding Roy. 

 

Or maybe he wasn’t avoiding him, if he wasn’t visiting Lian either. Maybe something happened. Maybe he got caught in another net and Roy wasn’t there to cut him free again. Maybe he’d been eaten by something bigger and with more teeth than him. 

 

The worry then settled deep in Roy’s gut and wouldn’t go away. He told Lian that Dick was probably just busy. He told himself not to think about the possibility of Dick being dead or worse. 

 

He had no idea why he had suddenly become so attached to Dick so fast and worried about him so much. Maybe the merman had put an enchantment on him of sorts. Roy’d heard stories of merpeople putting poor sailors under spells of love and infatuation to lure them to their deaths in the sea. 

 

But Dick hadn’t lured him anywhere, though Roy believed he was certainly infatuated. All Dick had done was bat his eyelashes and slip through his fingers, but it was enough to drive Roy to constant distraction. 

 

Just when Roy started to think he would never see Dick again, he was knocked on his ass and proven a fool once again. 

  


“Hi!” 

 

“ _Holy fuck_!” Roy jumped all the goddamn way in the air at the sudden noise from behind him. He let go of his net and it, and all the fish in it, sank into the water. “Shit!”

 

Roy could have sworn he was alone out here, on the open water. He spun around, eyes darting all over the other side of his ship, trying to spot whoever it was that spoke so suddenly, but he saw no one. Frowning, he turned back to look at where his net had disappeared.

 

“Oh my god!” He jumped again. Right there, where literally seconds ago there had been nothing but dark, empty water, was none other than the subject of Roy’s obsessive thoughts, holding onto the net Roy had dropped. 

 

“Hey,” Dick smiled. He held up the full net for Roy to grab. “Sorry, did I startle you?” 

 

Roy couldn’t do much more than gape at the merman for a moment, taking in his wet, coal-black hair and the shine of laughter in his eyes. His small but bright, twisty smile, and the hint of sharp teeth peeking out from between full lips. He was wearing new pearls. Finally he snapped out of it, and grabbed the net Dick was holding up for him. He dragged it onto the deck with a grunt. 

 

“More like gave me a heart attack.” Roy snarked. “Pretty used to being alone out here. I think I actually saw my life flash before my eyes.” 

 

“Sorry.” Roy heard a laugh and a heavy thunk behind him, and looked over his shoulder to see Dick pulling himself up onto his boat. “And sorry I’ve been gone so long. My dad found out I got caught and he kinda freaked out on me. Tried to ground me but then I told him I’m a grown adult and I can do what I want and he can’t stop me. Now I’m out and about again. Oh, but there is definitely a guard following me, so don’t do anything naughty.” 

 

Dick winked at him, and Roy blinked, trying to process the contents of Dick’s ramble. He ignored the wink and his last teasing warning in favour of something that confused him a lot more. 

 

“A guard?”

 

“Yeah, a royal guard.”

 

“Royal… guard?”

 

“Oh,” Dick smiled sheepishly. “Did I forget to tell you? I’m a prince.”

 

Roy gaped at him. Dick acted as if he didn’t say anything of much importance, leaning forward and reaching into Roy’s net. He pulled out a still-wriggling fish, raised it to his lips, and took a huge bite right out of it. He blinked up at Roy. Roy continued to stare. 

 

“A… prince?” 

 

“Yep.” Dick said through his mouthful of raw, ungutted fish. He swallowed and picked a bone out from between his teeth. 

 

Roy sat across from him, still wasn’t sure he was hearing it right, but if he asked for confirmation a third time he would just look stupid, so he kept his mouth shut about that. Instead he asked a different question. A different, probably even more stupid question. 

 

“Come here often?” 

 

Dick looked around at the open, empty waters surrounding them, and Roy had to fight facepalming. Come on, it was like all his game went belly up as soon as Dick popped out of the water, and now it seemed all he could do was flounder. 

 

“You mean… the open sea? Yeah, I live here.” 

 

“Mhm.” Roy was thankful Dick didn’t seem aware of the mental instability his presence was causing Roy. 

 

Maybe Dick _had_ put a spell on him. 

 

“I mostly explore up and down the shoreline, though.” Dick continued, taking another bite out of his fish. Roy watched him squish an eyeball between his teeth, appropriately grossed out, but it wasn’t enough to break from the rose-tinted lenses he looked at the merman through. “Humans are just so fascinating, you know? From a distance, at least.”

 

“Uh huh,” Actually, maybe it was good that Roy found himself incapable of being as smooth as he normally could. He thought of that royal guard keeping an eye on them from out of sight. He wondered if it would get him into trouble to be openly flirting with a mer-prince (prince!!! Aaaaahhhh!!!!). he wondered if merpeople had much in the way of projectile weapons. “So, what are you doing _here_ , then?”

 

“I wanted to see you,” Dick said with an easy smile, that made Roy’s heart squeeze (for some reason, that was weird) as he repeated aloud the sentiment Roy had been plagued with for the last month. “I was on my way to look for you at the port when I spotted your boat.” 

 

Roy must have stared uncomprehendingly for too long, because Dick seemed to misinterpret the meaning of it. The merman deflated a little, shoulders and ears drooping as some of his seemingly-natural confidence left him. 

 

“Sorry...” he said, looking down at the half-eaten fish in his hands. “I’ve been told I can be… over-eager, but I thought I grew out of it.” 

 

“No, that’s not it at all!” Roy flailed. “I’m just surprised. I didn’t think I’d see you again.” 

 

Dick perked back up a little, and so Roy continued. “But I wanted to. See you again, I mean.” 

 

Then Dick smiled beatifically at him, and Roy had a sudden feeling of needing to retreat before he ended up drowning— literally, or metaphorically. 

 

“Well, I need to get back to work,” Roy slapped his knees and stood back up, grabbing the net and pouring out the fish so he could cast it again. “You’re welcome to hang out here while I do, if you want.” 

 

“Nah, I should probably get going.” Dick polished off the last of his free snack with an apologetic smile. “This was nice, though. I’ll be seeing you around, Roy. Now, help me back into the water?” 

 

He tossed the fish bones aside and held his arms up like last time. Roy laughed down at the merman coiled on the deck of his boat. “You got yourself in, I’m sure you can get yourself out too.”

 

Dick smirked. “But I want _you_ to do it.” 

 

As if Roy was really going to refuse him, anyway. He swooped down and grabbed Dick around the waist, heaved him up and chucked him as far into the water as he could. Dick shrieked, the sound cut off as he hit the waves with a huge splash, so different from his graceful departure last time. Roy burst out laughing as Dick reappeared, head and shoulders poking out of the water a few meters away, staring at Roy with a look of shock and indignation on his face. Roy just laughed harder. 

 

“What, too rough for you, _your highness_?” He leaned forward with his elbows on the edge of the boat. He laughed again, but then the surprise on Dick’s face was replaced with something else— that Roy didn’t have time to see exactly what it was before the merman was ducking into the water again. 

 

He stopped laughing, worried for a second he had actually offended him, before Dick popped back up right in front of him. It was Roy’s turn to be shocked, too shocked to pull away as Dick leaned in close. 

 

There was a smirk on the prince’s face that Roy could only describe as shark-like, showing off his sharp teeth. Dangerous. 

 

“Oh, you have no idea how rough I can get, Harper.” The words came out like the low rumble of thunder in the distance, that sent a shiver running up and down Roy’s body, his hair standing on end for reasons he couldn’t name. 

 

Then Dick was gone again, and Roy was left blinking down at the empty, dark water, barely a ripple where the merman, the prince, the one that Roy had a sinking feeling he was really falling for, had been only a moment before. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY FIGURED OUT WHERE IM GOING WITH THIS! So hopefully there will be more chapters to come after this one :3 hehe there will be PLOT


End file.
